FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

While James had been to several other industrial areas of the attempted roboticisation of Westside Island, he had not been to anyplace as intimidating as the Chemical Plant Zone. A harsh smoking cancer upon the island itself, it poured with fumes thick enough to turn black the sky above, thickening to the point that it threatened with acid rain. What remained of the sun's rays showed only as a burning red horizon from whence it came. Tall spiralling structures of filth-ridden grey, long tubes of blue and yellow carrying ungodly amounts of poison and petroleum, rigid constructs of girders and scaffolding like skeletons of steel. The sickening heavy atmosphere already made James feel ill, and yet it also felt familiar. This realisation only made him more homesick, taking his mind off briefly the fact that he was tied down to a biplane's wingspan, ropes quivering slightly in the breeze against his body. At this point he was too determined to complain for a second time. The two-tailed pilot slowly made his descent, as the red Tornado made its way down through the smog towards an overlook that stood near the chemical plant. The landing was easy, wheels bumping onto dried grass as the propeller soon skittered to a halt. Finally the cold wind ceased its assault on James body, as Tails soon untied him from the plane like he was a prize catch before he was able to hop down. "Here it is," said the pilot. "Chemical Plant Zone." "Geez," said FG. "This place smells godawful. And that's saying something from me." "I know...I hate this place, more than anything Eggman made. The thick fog over it, the cold blinking lights and metallic structures, and that water...uuuugh, it makes me sick to even look at it." "If that even IS water, I'm pretty sure it's not meant to be purple-pink." "Well, let's hope that the parts we need are here. That shipping manifest from the scrapyard said it did." "I dunno how long ago that was dated though, so it's a long shot." "Considering Eggman didn't need any Resonance Stabilisers what with Sonic finding the Chaos Emeralds, I think it's safe to say that some are still here. He brought a lotta models, lots of variations for different resonance scales so at least one of them has to fit!" "I'm just glad I remembered those papers," said FG, "I mean that was like a week ago." "Okay, let's do this." Tails brought out his toolkit from the plane seat and handed FG a few items. A walkie talkie, a map of the plant and a picture of a mechanical part as Tails explained. "This walkie talkie will keep us in contact for at least half the distance of the actual plant's layout, so it should be enough. The Resonance Stabiliser I have a picture of so you can identify it. And the map I've marked the appoximate area that it was sent to, the storage area." "Right," said James. "It's not too far right?" "Nope, it's about half a mile from the plant entrance down there. I'll stay here with the plane, keep an eye out for trouble." "Alright. You sure you'll be okay on your own?" "I'll be fine, I'll be more useful out here than all the way inside there, what with all that Mega Mack stuff and everything." "That's still a weird name for toxic water." "Eggman's a weird guy...and that's putting it lightly." "Hehe, yeah. Um, thanks for helping me with all this." "No problem, I wanna help your friends too. It'd be awful to just leave them like that, I couldn't forgive myself if I did that." "Alright, if I'm not back in an hour, fly over and I'll try to signal you." "Okay. Good luck James."

Nodding in confidence, the raptor headed off into the Chemical Plant Zone entrance, a large open metal gate that expanded out towards the cityscape within. James was surprised at how huge the place was, wondering how much of it was actually necessary and the rest just purely for pollution, or other nefarious deeds. The water was still below him, the sounds of machinery strangely faint from all around him. Moreso than would be expected. For some reason, the normal way into the storage area below was blocked off by large closed gates, forcing FG to walk onto the blue pipes to bypass it. Thankfully he had enough space to walk on them without hassle. Churning petroleum flooded through the pipelines, blue viscous globules pumped throughout the entire infrastructure both above and underneath him. In fact it seemed to be the only thing that was actually moving inside the plant, the walkie talkie coming to life from his satchel. "Anything yet?" "Nothing so far," said James. "Place is dead though, not seen one badnik around or anything." "That's odd, there should still be some patrolling around the area. Maybe Eggman had them come back to the base?" "Hopefully. The main doors to the storage area's closed so I'm taking the pipeways around. I'll call you when I get to them." Clicking off he walked further on, the pipes looping and twisting themselves around into absurd serpentine coils. Not having the strength to try and build up speed for them, he simply hopped from one end to the other within the loops before heading on towards the ground level. The water stretched out far beyond his reach, spanning the entire length of the plant with its poisonous luminescence. On the plus side, they gave a good light that allowed him to see where he was going, not that the flashing beacons all around him didn't help. Just as Tails said, the walk to the storage area was not as long as he expected, leaping down onto the main supply area as he now found himself on the other side of the huge sealed doors. The same kind of doors he had seen back at the scrapyard so long ago. Presumably they were for absurdly large vehicles to carry all of the equipment through, as James saw two rows of large warehouses now stretch out before him. He pulled out the walkie talkie to confirm.

"Alright I'm here. Looks like about...ten warehouses here, any ideas which one to pick?" "Eggman's manifest lists the Resonance Stabilisers under 'PCT', so try to find the right storage area for that. Do the warehouses have any signs on them?" "I...think so, wait, yeah they do! There's one here that says 'Offensive Experimental Weapons' on the side of the warehouse." "Huh? That's...a long name, not what I got on here...ohhhh OHH OH I got it, it's an acronym!" "What?" "PCT means something like that, a long set of words shortened to a series of le-" "I know what an acronym is Tails," said James flatly. "But got it, just find something to match the letters." "Any badniks yet?" "Nope. Not a stir of a single machine anywhere." "Don't let your guard down okay? I mean, I dunno how you even fight with that thing on your back, but just be careful alright?" "I will, don't worry." The raptor walked between the large storage sheds with intrigue at each of their contents. Each warehouse was a single solid grey block, bolted down to the mesh floor that was the motif of the entire place. Slithering wires laid underneath James' feet, embedded in the floor like prehistoric fossils with no explicit purpose but to their own. The sky hung oppressively further above his head, not even able to see the red horizon from the lower levels of the Chemical Plant Zone. The various warehouses all had intriguing names. Roboticisation Optimisation Equipment, Heat-Based Artillery, Chemical Repair Section, Robotic Assimilation Quarantine. The last name made him stop in his tracks, but not because of the name. But because it was the only one currently open, by the large torn rift within the steel shutter door. A giant gaping wound the height of a person, forced open by something with claws. In the vicinity of this one warehouse lied dozens of badniks torn to pieces. Limbs severed, heads sliced in two, torsos eviscerated with such brutality that halves of them would be found yards away from each other. Had he not spent as much time around them as he had in the past week, he would not have felt so uneasy as he did at the metallic massacre now before him. Various models he knew and recognised well, robotic fish, insects and reptiles all strewn within a large searing puddle of wires and oil that glimmered a dark blackish-red, reflecting the sky. The trail of oil lead further beyond the warehouse area, up towards the pipelines high above him through one pipe that started at the warehouse area before leading upwards like a slope. James however found one storage shed that made him feel relieved at finally finding. Power Containment Tools.

"I found it!" he said on the walkie. "It's a place called Power Containment Tools!" "That's gotta be it, it fits perfectly! Is there any way in?!" "None of the warehouses have any doors on them weirdly, other than the one large shutter." "Probably because it's all automated. Do you see any cables coming from the shutter door?" "...yeah, there's like one big black cable that wraps around the building." "Okay, follow it and it should lead you to a fusebox." Following Tails' instructions, James soon found exactly that, a single black box of rectangular length about 10 feet off the ground. "Okay I found one, now what?" "Open it and I'll tell ya what to do next." Luckily there was a large AC fan near the fusebox he could climb up to, boosting himself up with a gust of wind as he grabbed on and sat upon the sturdy casing. The fusebox had a strangely simple design, hinged door with a keypad on the front. James decided not to fool around with numbers and simply grabbed onto both hinges, heating his hands up with such intensity that, a few minutes later, they started to melt and burn themselves out into smoldering drops. The door swung towards its electronic lock, as James kicked the plating off hard to see the inside before him. "Okay it's open." "What do you see?" "...I see six wires all tangling up, all of them black and connecting to the top of the fusebox by conduits. The conduits are all labelled with a letter." "What letters do they have?" "...S, L, V, E and F." "Okay, Eggman tends to make things really simple when he makes non-robotic things, he has no time to fiddle with every single thing. I'm gonna say that S means Shutter, the others must mean Lighting, Ventilation, Electrical, and Fire." "...what's the fire part?" "Probably the fire alarm. WAIT, that's an idea, the fire alarm would open the shutter and override it! Unscrew the conduit, then open the cable and tell me the wires in it." James gingerly did as he was asked, cutting with his claws as best as he could after unscrewing the conduit from the rest of the fusebox. "I see...five wires again, red, blue, yellow, green and brown." "Okay, now cut the blue and yellow wires." "This is some serious spy stuff by the way." "Heheh, it is isn't it?!" "Remind me never to make an enemy out of you Tails, I bet you could hack a government computer even." "Ahhhh I'm not THAT good, I just got a knack for bitwise operations! I mean, all it is is just three operators of And Or Not, technically four if you wanna include Xor but that's practically bruteforcing true whenever you got two commands that don't agree-" "You DO realise I never finished high school right?" "Uh...I'm eight, what's your excuse?" James desperately tried to imagine a studio camera he could turn to with the most unsatisfactory look in existence, turning back to the wires and cutting off the blue and yellow before putting the conduit back in. In doing so, an alarm went off suddenly that made him nearly fall off the AC fan. "W-WOAH DAMMIT!" "What's going on?!" "J-just the alarm went off! ...wait, I hear the shutter opening YES!"

He hopped down carefully by scaling down the wall, leaping at a lower height before rolling on the ground to not hurt his legs as he heard the grinding creak of the shutter door opening. It was easy enough to hear over the blaring alarm, a raspy squawk that blared red from within that lured James inside. The warehouse was not as full of crates as he imagined it to be, but still plenty enough to make him feel the old needle in the haystack situation. Searching over the various crates and storage containers, it took him somewhere around 10 minutes to find one crate marked with the term "Resonance Stabilisers". The flash of a grin grew across his face, as he used his scissors to pry it open hard from the top, forcing the lid off to find what he was looking for. It was exactly like the item in the picture, a brown L-shaped device with three connectors, one at each end with a third one in the corner of the L. "I got it! I FOUND THE RESONANCE THING!" "GREAT! Now look for the right model, there should be some with the number two-fifty stamped on their side. Maybe grab some of the one-twenty-fives too just in case." "Alrighty." Routing through the multiple stabilisers, he eventually found several with the number 250 along their brown metallic lengths, taking three as well as a few of the 125-marked ones. They were easy to carry, about the size of a portable music player in standard size as he left the blaring warehouse quickly. However the way back was now too high up for him to reach, as he saw the only way out of the storage area was through the pipe connecting upwards, where the trail of oil went with it. "...just, for once, let's not have a boss guarding this okay? Maybe just have one zone or whatever in this place without some crazy robot wanting to kill my ass." He headed up along the chemical pipe, suddenly missing his two friends who would at least fill the silence with their banal bickering. Then he remembered why he was even here and became more determined to leave, hiking upwards before he soon found himself on a long lonely stretch of the pipeline. The sky resonated much more thickly than it ever did before, making James more nervous. The oil trail didn't stop either, leading towards the very end of a long dark pipeway which thankfully was not his destination. Over the edge he saw the ooze glowing underneath. The moment he did, he heard something ringing softly beside his leg, tingling clearly within the near-silence of the plant. When he stood up once more at hearing the noise, he saw Tails standing at the far end of the pipe. Silently watching him. "...Tails? ...wait." His movements were not natural, the colour was a little off and the head was shaped a bit too weirdly. Soon he came closer, as James saw a small flickering red light above the little fox's head. His senses told him to slowly bring a hand up to his scissors, right before the fox charged at him. "NO!"

Swinging low the moment he saw orange come close, the fox leapt over his blades with absurd speed before a whirring shriek came from behind him. Turning hard on the pipe, he saw the creature for what it truly was. The blank staring doll with half its head missing diagonally, its body now riddled with deep burn marks that had worn away to the underbody, revealing steel grey slivers scarring up over its body. The right eye was now mostly gone, along with the rest of the right side of the head showing exposed metal and wires. The telltale sound of claws unsheathing made him jump back swiftly, holding his scissors up to guard as the creature spoke without a mouth, its eyes staring endlessly. "bAd...tiMeS aRe...DiSaPpEaRiNg. We...nEvEr bE...ApArT." "I thought you were fucking dead! I BURNED YOU ON A FUCKING JET YOU SON OF A BITCH! WHO ARE YOU?!" "I...giVe uP...dReAmInG. I...nEeD yOu." "You what?! Why do you need me?!" "nEeD...yOu...to DIIIIIIIIIIIIE!" The doll screamed with such intensity that the pipe underneath James began to crack and sever with a bending dip, chemicals spilling out endlessly upon the foul water below as scaffolding trembled all around them to the point of falling, plunging into the depths beneath. The fire alarm still echoed from the warehouse beyond, as the raptor waited for the doll to make the first move in the form of a psychotic forwards spiral. The force of it was brutal, to the point that James fell onto his back even with his strongest guard as if a mechanical bull had just charged into him. Before the robot could strike down upon him with a spinning pirouette of extended claws, he blasted his gust of wind upon both of them, pushing them apart to give him a chance to recover. He swiftly leapt up and waited for another charge, the doll trying another spiral attack which FG leapt over readily, scissors spinning vertically as they scraped the back of the robot's head. Turning itself around by pivoting on one leg while also turning its head separately to stare always towards him, the fox-shaped creature began lashing out with furious clawed fists, slicing the air to the point of shimmering. Vicious haymakers and bear-like swings kept James on his toes, wielding his scissors as a constant guard until two strikes knocked it down, before the third one slashed right through his shoulder guard. The razor-sharp claws scarred deep through the medieval pauldron, pulling it hard off from James' shoulder until it fell apart in two. His weaker shoulder was now exposed, but somehow the furious insult of just losing his one piece of armour set James upon the offensive, slashing back towards the Tails mimic with furious upwards slashes. A brief moment of fury in his eyes, his blades tore at the claws coming down upon him, countering them aggressively by striking them off-target, swinging his weapon every time the doll tried to strike down back at him.

Left and right the arms came down extended out with a vengeance, and everytime they did the raptor's scissors striked upwards to clash against them with shining sparks. On the sixth strike that the doll made, he made his move as the raptor spun hard with the momentum of his swing and roared with a single horizontal slash, ducking low to avoid anymore attacks as he sliced open the robot's legs. The doll's knees bled out a thick gushing oil, its motorised pistons suddenly buckling and somehow unable to make itself hover through this new weakness. But the monster was not done yet, as soon it began to twitch and pulsate something new from its body, the legs snapping together before suddenly tearing themselves off from the body. A distorted shriek came from the machine, as its legs reappeared as strange purple replicas with fragments of amber deep within, blocky and twisted. Then it began to perform a new move that made it all the more fearsome. The doll started moving faster, but not by actually moving. Instead, it would simply tele- #-~!/j-sjf< -before James suddenly, as if it were a ghost. He didn't even see it move, as the creature striked down upon him while his scissors struggled to stand up against it. The moment it striked again, it-2ejs@s-(+-behind him, shuddering a strange guttural cry that signalled him to run fast, cold razor tips caught his flesh as blood dripped down his back while James roared with agony before turning. He watched it once again, this time more carefully as he struggled to make sure it would not surprise him, blood lashing from his tail as hot droplets of pain. He wasn't sure how, but the doll was shifting in and out of- ~8_=+,o$kd5 -thrust before it was too late. He wasn't going to take chances, for the moment it just faded from his view, he thrust as hard as possible into the air in front of him. Right through the doll's hollow chest. It stared dumbly at him, silent and unmoving as the scissors plunged through to the other side, piercing with fluids spilling out from its back and dripping down its dark purple legs. A horrid scream echoed out all around him, the pipeline underneath them cracking harder from the pressure of such a vile presence, metal twisting itself up from all around then. Not even by falling, but by actually twisting and contorting with itself as if cringing from the sheer power of the unholy shrieking. The doll pushed itself off from James, before stumbling back towards the pipe edge before grabbing on for safety. James rushed to it, not wanting to save it but at the very least wanting to demand answers. The pouring chemicals ran as an infinite waterfall beside them, the pipe giving way more and more as the machine said: "tHiS...WoRLd...iS...nOt...coNnEcTed." "What?!" "poWeR...fReEdOm...jOy...i CouLD nOt tAkE. nOt...ENouGH. tHe PaLaCE oF LiGhT FaR ToO fOrGoTtEn...nOt...TieD, tO tHe dArKnEsS." "Who are you?! What do you want?! Were you the one back in that cave?! You didn't come from Robotnik didn't you?!" He grabbed at the doll's throat, his fury and frustration rising at such an evasive creature. "ANSWER ME!" _ "oNe...s-s-sEvEn...tHe gALaXy...i SHaLL siLenCe-"_ "FUCK'S SAKE, STOP WITH THE FUCKING RIDDLES AND JUST TELL ME!" "i sHaLL siLeNce...witHiN yOuR hEaRt, jAmEs cAmpBeLL." "Wh-...what are you talking about?! How do you know my name?!" "...i...chose...you."

Its arm suddenly exploded right before James as the doll fell into the water. The thick purple effluence swallowed it immediately, its other hand struggling to reach up towards him with one final scream, crackling from beneath as a gargling mechanical cry of sorrow. The last remnants of both pipeline and metal structures began to crumble around him, falling in their contorted shapes, twisting forevermore until the screams finally stopped. As the silence soon returned to him, a faint ringing sound could be heard fading away that James did not quite hear. The raptor sat at the edge, staring down in confusion at what that thing might have been. The voice was somehow familiar, but he could not quite figure from where. Whether it was the current state of events or just a slow-minded memory too focused on other things, he could not say. But one thing was certain on his mind. He came here to save his new friends, as he shook his head clear and began walking back along the pipe to where Tails would be, back at the entrance overlook to the Chemical Plant Zone. "Wh-what happened?!" asked Tails. "Th-there was some kinda noise like a-a-a scream or something!" "...oh, just some old guard." "H-huh?!" "Yeah...just an old malfunctioning machine, left behind by Robotnik to guard the place, went all apeshi-MMHMPH, crazy on me." "But...that noise, what was it, I-...I've never heard anything like it!" "Psychological warfare," said FG, "along with some weird self-destruct mechanism. Was lucky to get out of there alive lemme tell ya." "Well...I'm real glad you got back safely...but...hey, what happened to your shoulder? And your back jeez, that looks awful!" "Oh, this? Heh, that was the guard that did it, tore that thing off when it went for me...aw." "What?" "Just...never mind. Come on, let's go, don't wanna leave my friends hanging." "Yeah, you're right, let's go home we gotta get you patched up too!" Tails readied the plane and took FG's satchel safely into the seat, before the raptor hopped onto the top wing and allowed himself to be strapped in, his thoughts churning with every question in his head. What the hell was that thing? It seemed to know me, and that voice just...I know it sounds familiar, but I can't think straight. Why was it trying to attack me, why was it...why was it able to just shift in and out like that, like some kind of...you know what, who cares, it's dead now and I need to focus on getting those two back up again. ...after that I'm leaving, there's no way I'll be able to get anywhere now that Robotnik's place is all blown up...dammit. How long do I have to keep doing this? ...whatever, let's get Scratch and Grounder back on their feet.

There had never been the concept of an afterlife to badniks, at least as far as he knew. But the moment he opened his eyes to see a strange wooden roof and walls filled with tools around him, he had to wonder if there was anything beyond the eternal darkness. At first he felt empty, weightless and uncertain of this new place before James slowly came into view above him, his eyes worried but hopeful. "...Scratch?" "...FG?" "You...you alright?" "Uh...what?" The raptor smiled with relief, sighing as the rooster slowly got up. He felt different somehow, as if a weight had been lifted off his chest feeling much more alive and eager than he ever did before. He saw the tool-laden room that he was now in, focusing on FG who now had bandages wrapped around his upper body, his foot standing near a small familiar-looking two-tailed fox. He asked softly: "Wh-...where am I?" "It's okay," said FG. "You're safe now. You were just out of power for a while but uh, we got you all charged up." "Y-you...you did? You recharged me?! ...wait, where's Grounder?!" "I'm down here!" He looked to his right to see Grounder happily moving around on the floor, his wheels much more refined than the ones he had before, shining steel with the smoothest belt he had ever seen. "...HEY, you got new wheels!" "Yep, sure do! Must be the tooth fairy!" "Wha-...you don't have any teeth you numbnuts, how-...wait..." He slowly got off from the operating table, his long yellow legs rather uncertain but still spry like always after a few hops on the spot. Scratch however soon realised something, saying: "But...what happened?! I thought...I thought we got blasted into a million pieces the moment we hit the dirt!" "More like half-a-dozen," said Tails. "I'll give Eggman props for one thing, he makes some sturdy bots when they fall apart into big pieces rather than tiny ones." "...hey, wait a minute, yer that kid always hangin' around with Sonic, arentcha?" "Uhhh, yeah. I'm Tails." The hand offered to him was soon shaken by a metal wing, gently gripping it as Scratch felt too off-kilter to be anything but polite. "I'm uh...Scratch. But...did you fix me?" "Mmhmm! James here managed to survive the impact thanks to being in that space capsule, he told me about what happened to you two and asked me to help fix you two." "...you...you got us all...fixed up?" "I couldn't leave you two all over the place," said FG. "Not after what we've been through. Plus, you know, you DID save my life up there, I had to return the favour." "You...you fixed us up? E-even after we were just...scrap metal?" "Like Tails said, you were just in pieces and needed a new power source. Heh, took me half a day to fly all the way with him to the chemical plant and root around finding one for ya, I mean-HEY!" Suddenly Scratch hugged FG with strong steel wings, his arms wrapped around while shaking with emotion. He couldn't see it, but he could hear the choking sobs from the chicken against his ear.

"Y-you...you...y-you didn't abandon me...you...y-y-you fixed us back together! Nobody's ever done something like that fer us! N-nobody!" Rocking back and forth with Scratch's hot tears, James simply patted him on the back awkwardly, looking over at Tails who simply shrugged at this before the rooster let go. His eyes were leaking some sort of clear fluid as he sniffed back his tears, gasping: "N-nobody...n-not even Doctor Robotnik ever...f-f-fixed us the way you did. You...y-y-you...CUMMERE!" He grabbed FG again, hugging him more tightly than before as he cringed from the severe hug, his arms trapped down as the chicken screeched with overwhelming tears. "I'M SORRY I DOUBTED YOU! YER THE BEST FRIEND WE EVER HAD! I'M SORRY FG!" "JESUS CALM DOWN-OW!!" "YOU DONE EVERYTHIN' FER US, YOU MADE US STRONG, YOU MADE US WANNA GET OUT IN THE WORLD, YOU DIDN'T EVEN FORGET ABOUT UUUUUUUUUUUUUUS!" Breaking down completely, the raptor sighed with exasperation while also feeling rather chuffed by being given such praise. Grounder simply looked on, quizzical at his friend's state as he poked him on the rear with a drill. "Uhhhh Scratch? I think yer chokin' him." "SH-SHUDDUP, THIS GUY SAVED OUR LIVES!" "Well, sure, but yer really chokin' him!" "Huh?!" Scratch didn't even notice the raptor struggling to push him away, gasping as the pain began bleeding from his back from the tightening embrace, before the badnik let him go hastily. "OH, s-s-sorry!" "F-fuh! D-dammit my back...hhhh...s'alright, I...I get that you're grateful, just pull back a bit alright?" "I-I-I'm sorry, I just-nobody ever done a thing fer us until you. You...you could've gone off elsewhere after we landed and...f-forgot about us. But you didn't." "I owe you for saving my life. I'm not gonna let you two rust away on some beach after we've been together for a week. ...you haven't said much Grounder, you alright?" "Hmm?" said the drillbot. "Oh I'm fine, thanks fer wakin' me up FG! It wuz a really long nap I wuz havin', but I can't just sleep in all day!" "...hahaha, right, yeah uh...you're welcome. But hey, don't just thank me, you should thank Tails over there too, he's the one who actually got you all fixed and powered up again, I know nothing about robots." "He is?!" said Scratch. "Cummere you!" "NO, NO HUGGING, NO-" But before Tails could get away, the rooster grabbed him and scooped him up to his chest, squeezing him like he was a small plushie much against Tails' squirming protests. "Thank you! Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU! Yer the BEST, yanno that?! The best little fuzzball around, you need anythin', I'm here fer ya!" "W-WELL...NNNGH, m-maybe put me down first?!" "OH, sure pal!"

Plonking him back down on the floor, Scratch grinned with a new lease on life as he saw the sun setting over the horizon. He walking out of Tails' home as Grounder followed, hearing his friend say: "Yanno, I never knew how neat the sunset looks out here! It's so...so-" "Orange?" "YEAH, thassit! Boy it feels so GOOD to be alive again, all full of power and energy all bubblin' up inside of me!" "Maybe you got indigestion!" "HAH, awwww cummere you big lug!" Hugging his molebot friend tightly around the neck, the rooster smiled happier than he ever had in his entire existence, as Grounder hugged him back in turn rather confused but all the more happy for it. James looked out the door towards them, with Tails standing slightly behind him saying: "I'm really glad we were able to bring your friends back." "Yeah," said FG. "...I just hope that optimism runs out soon, or else I'm gonna turn him off for real." "Hehehee, awww you don't mean that." "Naaah not really...hey, thanks for not mentioning anything about the uh...animals." "I think it's best they don't know. After all, ignorance is bliss." "...so how come you're happy then with all this technology around you?" "Because I have friends! Like Sonic." "Hah, course. Well, I need to get going." "Already? You're not gonna say goodbye to them first? But what if Sonic comes back, he was meant to be here soon." "I'll say goodbye to them sure, but I need to get out of here real soon and keep moving on my journey." "Your...journey?" asked Tails curiously. "I...I have a lot of things I need to do, and the sooner I get it done the better. So I'm just gonna say goodbye to those two, then I'll go." "You sure you'll be okay with that back of yours? It's pretty wounded." "I'll be fine don't worry, you did a good job on this. I know we've just met and all but, I really wanna thank you for everything." "No problem!" said Tails cheerfully. "I'm glad I could help. I'm just real glad those stones of yours were so receptive to the resonance stabilisers, everything just ticked over perfectly once the mass effect on them was nullified." "Nnnngh..." James slightly winced as his head burned with a familiar feeling further urging him to leave, the fox asking: "You SURE you're alright?" "Yeah yeah no worries just...headache, I'll be fine. But yeah, real glad that worked out." "Me too, I mean with that kinda energy, I don't think those two are ever gonna run out of power, or at least not in our lifetime." "Good...that's awesome. Seriously, thank you Tails. And if you see Sonic...tell him I said thanks for all the help." Shaking hands for the last time with the two-tailed fox, he smiled with gratitude as he took his satchel and left Tails' house. He noticed his shoulder was now bare without his guard, making him feel rather forlorn at having lost it. Even if he no longer needed it truly, for his shoulder had surely healed itself to a well-enough point by now, it was a comforting relic for him to wear. He walked towards Scratch and Grounder, who were already arguing over something stupid at the Tornado biplane.

"Of COURSE he's not a plane you moron!" squawked Scratch. "He's just a hedgehog!" "But his name's right dere!" said Grounder. "LOOK, ES-OH-EN-AI-CEE!" "THAT JUST MEANS THE PLANE IS HIS, HE OWNS IT!" "But how come you never seen him WITH the plane hmmmm?!" "I DUNNO! I don't follow 'im around everyday! Maybe he puts his name on everything, like his shoes even!" "Well I can't see cuz they move too fast, they're just red, JUST LIKE THIS PLANE!" "AUUUUUUUGH YOU ARE SUCH AN IDIOT I WISH YOU'D FALLEN INTO THE SEA LIKE A BRICK! JUST LIKE THE ONE IN YER HEAD!" "Now now," said FG, "careful what you wish for chickenboy." "OH, hey FG!" "Mornin' FG!" said Grounder. "You idiot!" A wingslap came across the back of Grounder's head. "It's sunset now, we just said it was!" "Owwwww." "I just wanted to make sure you two were alright," said James, "since I'm planning on leaving soon." "You leaving?! Where ya going?!" "Somewhere far away. I got my own journey and I got nothing else to do here." "But," asked Scratch, "werentcha lookin' fer something from Doctor Robotnik?" "I was, but then his space station blew up sooooo yeah, gotta go look elsewhere. What about you two, where are you going?" "I...I dunno. It's...kinda the first time we ever got to walk anywhere without a wall in front of us or somebody telling us what to do, yanno?" "I understand. There's plenty of stuff to go find out there, so don't let anyone stop you." "Sure!" "Ain't nobody gonna stop us!" said Grounder. "Cuz we're the best badniks!" "More like NOT-badniks am I right pal?!" said the rooster. "Huhuyeah! More like...goodniks!" "HAH, goodniks! BUHA-HAHAAAAAA! I like that, Scratch and Grounder, goodniks fer hire!" "And fer children's parties!" "YEAH, hey maybe we got an idea here, we could make some kinda group!" "But...I dunno how to play guitar!" "Not that kinda group dummy, like an agency!" "Ooooooh...or maybe a COOKING agency!" "Or a plane agency!" "Or a rooftop agency!" "Well glad you guys know what you're doing," said FG while rolling his eyes, "so I guess it's goodbye for us then." "Guess so!" The rooster and the drilltank both shook FG's hand, one hand each grasping both wing and drill, both smiling metallic gleams of simple cheer as they bade farewell. "G'bye FG!" "Yeah, bye FG!" "Don't be a stranger!" "Wrap up warm!" "Tell yer friends!" "Don't forget to write!" "Take care both of you!" said James finally. As he parted from the two, he turned and left walking downhill towards a safe discreet area, where he could leave without anyone noticing him. A part of him was slightly sad to leave his strange robot friends behind, but seeing that they would be perfectly fine on their own with no masters above them, he readied himself to leave. Trying not to think of what other strange happenings had occurred to him, he focused on the one keyword that somehow popped up to him whenever he spoke with Tails. "Guess with all that technobabble something had to come up," said FG to himself. "Let's see where THIS magic keyword takes us shall we?" Once again the blue shimmering came from all around him, faster than it had been, getting better at quickly tearing a hole through the existence of this world for him to pass through. He still had no idea what the word meant, but he still wanted to turn it into some kind of one-liner before he left, even if no one was around to hear it amidst the swirling scarring vortex emanating from around him. "Alright world, you wanna see something good? I'll show you what a real 'mass effect' is...whatever the hell that means."

That was all he could bear saying before the darkness took him, swallowing up fully into the next dimensional world. Yet he was not the only one taking this journey beyond. For the next world he would reach would become a spiral of fate that he would never have wished to unravel.